Evil
by JustKissMe
Summary: I did not start my life set on this path, but when the entire world is telling you you're evil, well…You start to believe it. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series.

* * *

It didn't happen all at once. It wasn't like I had my mind made up as a child. The decision to join His side was a process; and it was a long, hard and messed up journey. It was a journey that, in the beginning, I didn't even want to go through. I didn't make a conscious choice to start down the path that led me here, led me to fighting against my peers and people I used to respect. A few years ago it would have made me queasy at the thought. So no, I did not start my life set on this path, but when the entire world is telling you you're evil, well…

You start to believe it.

* * *

I guess I had a fairly normal upbringing: two parents who loved me, an older brother whom I adored, and a quaint little house in a quaint little neighborhood. Sure we were unique in our own way, but overall we were just like everyone else.

My parents stayed neutral in the first war, although, they were partial towards the Order. Despite having sympathies with them they tried not to discriminate, and as a result I wasn't raised to have any prejudices against muggleborns or purebloods. Blood was just that, blood. It was just a liquid that ran throughout everyone's body and there was certainly no reason at all to start a war over it.

My parents were both intelligent and successful people. Each of them graduated from Hogwarts, both from Ravenclaw, and each successfully handled professional careers while still making time for their family. My brother and I inherited these same traits, so it was only natural that my brother was sorted into Ravenclaw. It was a cause for celebration when we received that particular letter, and after that it was just assumed that I would be a Ravenclaw as well. After all, I was smart, I was resourceful, and I was cunning.

I'm positive it was that last trait that sealed my fate.

* * *

_Slytherin! Did you hear?_

_No, It couldn't be true. Her entire family is in Ravenclaw._

_What do you think is wrong with her? Do you think maybe…_

_She's obviously the black sheep of the family, I pity them all._

_There must be something dark in her, Slytherin is an evil place._

Evil. Bad. Dark. These were all words that people forevermore described me as. Friends no longer acknowledged me, professors always picked on me, and my own family even treated me differently. Everyone was always cautious now, as if I would attack them when their backs were turned. I felt betrayed and abandoned. I felt like there was something that I had done wrong to end up like this. Eventually though, I came to realize that this treatment was not just happening to me. _Every _single Slytherin was going through the exact same thing.

Over time I gave up my efforts to reach out to my former friends, and I picked up new ones. Ones that were just like me - smart and resourceful and cunning. Ones with favorite colors of green and silver. Ones that, most importantly, had my back when I needed it.

* * *

The cutting remarks from the other houses never relented. In fact, they just became more spiteful and cruel over the years. It was in my fourth year at Hogwarts that the seed was planted and I took my first step on a long and weary path to where I am today. Two Griffindor girls were saying spiteful things to a second year Slytherin. They called her an evil little pureblood, and it was at that moment that I had an epiphany. It was widely believed that people with 'dirty' blood were supposedly the great people of the world; but it was in reality just the opposite.

It was the half bloods that taunted me. It was the muggleborns that belittled me. It was they who were vicious, cruel, and downright _mean_. They were the horrible ones. Not the pureblooded people that befriended me. It wasn't other Slytherins who yelled obscenities my way every day. My house was supposedly shrouded in darkness, but at that moment it had never seemed brighter.

* * *

If a fight didn't directly involve me or my friends then I normally stayed on the sidelines; but after I was enlightened I decided that I needed to play a more active role in defending my fellow housemates.

It was during these confrontations where I learned that my smarts also showed itself in the form of witty remarks and quick comebacks. I could cut down people with a precision that was remarkable. It was exhilarating, because for so long I had been the one without control; but now I was taking it back. I was the one who walked away feeling victorious, and now other Slytherins looked up to me in admiration. I was drunk with power, and I would never let that power be taken from me again.

The people in the other houses claimed that they were right about me. They said that they knew I was dark all along, because for what other reason would I have been placed in Slytherin? I didn't care what they thought. So what if I was 'evil' like they said. If being 'evil' meant staying in power then there was nothing else I wanted to be, and there was nothing that could stand in my way.

But I'll never forget the look my brother gave me the first time he heard me call someone a mudblood.

* * *

The next two years were big for everyone. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back, and with his return came a new insult. _Death Eater._ All Slytherins were automatically labeled as a supporter. Now there was an influx of hatred not just from the student body, but from the wizarding world as well. All eyes were suddenly scrutinizing us to see if we bore the Dark Mark.

Everyone was choosing sides; this time around no one was a neutral party. And with an outpouring of hate from the whole world came an equal outpouring of support and acceptance from the parents of some of the other Slytherins. They were known Death Eaters, but they didn't seem as scary as people made them out to be. A few reached out to me specifically. They told me my shrewd mind was a wonderful trait to possess and that the way I defended my house against all showed great and admirable loyalty.

They may have been Death Eaters, but unlike other adults I knew they made me feel special and I felt like I was worth something to them. It had been years since my own parents had even made me feel like this. I knew they wanted me to join the Dark Lord's cause, but I also knew that everything they were saying to me was sincere.

And so I pledged myself to His side.

* * *

Now here I am, bleeding out and dying in the aftermath of the Battle for Hogwarts. No one's coming for me, but that doesn't matter. I've given everything I have to the Dark Lord's cause, and I don't regret it for a second. Why should I? The Death Eaters are the only one's who truly accepted me. They didn't care about what house I was sorted into. They only cared about my talents and abilities. They were not the ones who taunted me, belittled me, _hated _me. It was the rest of the world who did all of that. And when the whole world deems you evil, well…

You start to believe it.

* * *

Author's Note: I've always felt as if Slytherin's were mistreated by many characters in the books, and that they were stereotyped by too many people. So I wanted to write something from the perspective of someone who was actually victimized by the other Hogwarts students.


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